Anaheim is found in Orange County, which is in the state of California. The 2010 U.S. Census reported a 336,265 population, which means it is Orange County’s most populous city, and the 10th most populous in the state. It is also Orange County’s second largest city after Irvine in terms of land area, and it is famous for its convention center, sports teams, and theme parks. Founded in 1857 by 50 German families, it was incorporated in 1876. Since then, the city has built on its extensive industry, as well as tourism. In 1955, the Disneyland Resort opened, shooting the city to global fame.
Anaheim Land for Sale & Lease – Should You Buy or Lease?
If you are interested in land, whether you want it as an investment or for construction or other purposes, you have two major choices available to you: buying or leasing. There are pros and cons for both of these options.
Looking first at buying land, the pros include the fact that:
- You can lease out your land without having any income tax consequences, so long as you pay your income tax on the rent that you receive on the land.
- You become the owner of a property. This means you have the opportunity to have a truly productive economic use out of the land for a longer period of time.
- You may retain a degree of control over how the land can be used and developed. There are usually zoning restrictions in place, which you will have known about before you purchased the land, and this means that those who lease from you will not be able to redevelop your property in a way that you do not want them to.
However, the disadvantages need to be taken into account as well:
- It is possible that you, as the property owner, will lease your land out to a tenant and then allow the land to act as security for the financing needs of the tenant. If the tenant then defaults, the land could be at risk of foreclosure.
- You will pay income tax at ordinary rates on any rent that you receive. This can be a disadvantage, depending on your personal tax situation.
- You must make sure that you have a lease document that has ground control included in it, or the tenant could potentially completely redevelop the lot.
- You usually cannot borrow against the equity on the land while it is leased to a third party.
Your other option is to lease your land, which also has clear benefits:
- You will have far lower initial development costs, because you do not have to acquire any land.
- You can deduct all your rent payments from your state and federal income taxes.
However, there are some downsides as well:
- Usually, the amount that you will pay in the long term for your lease will be much higher than if you had purchased the property. This is not always a disadvantage, however, as it depends on whether or not you intend to stay at the same location for a long period of time.
- You won’t have as much flexibility when it comes to how you would like to develop the land that you are leasing, and this may make it more difficult to run your operations the way you want to.
- You will probably not be able to take any equity out of your business or refinance anything due to ground lease limitations.
- A lease is classed as a “diminishing asset”, which means that, towards the end of your lease agreement, your business value will also be diminished.
To help choose between the two options, being aware of the trends and statistics in terms of prices, supply, and demand, can be very beneficial.
Anaheim Land for Sale – Trends and Statistics
There are numerous pieces of land for sale in and around Anaheim. These include:
- A 0.08 hectare (approximately 9,000 square feet) piece of vacant lot in Anaheim Hills costs $50,000.
- A one hectare piece of land in Anaheim Hills costs $225,000. This is a vacant lot surrounded by several homes worth over $1 million, as well as a further future area estate.
- A 0.8 hectare lot in Anaheim costs $825,000, which is zoned as Commercial-General. It includes a free standing building with high exposure to traffic.
- A 0.37 hectare lot in Anaheim Hills costs $850,000.
- A 0.74 hectare lot in Anaheim costs $4,800,000. This is found in a popular area. The lot would be perfect for multifamily residential development.
- A 0.66 hectare lot in Anaheim Hills costs $1,199,900 in Peralta Hills, which is one of Anaheim Hills’ most prestigious neighborhoods.
- A 0.43 hectare lot in Anaheim Hills costs $899,900, also in Peralta Hills.
- A 0.45 hectare lot in Anaheim Hills costs $850,000.
Anaheim Land for Lease – Trends and Statistics
There are also various opportunities for those looking at land for lease. These include:
- A 5,000 to 8,000 square feet shared yard space that is fully paved and fenced. It is classed as industrial land and the rental rate is $5.16 per square foot.
- A corner for development that has been zoned for retail. 10,031 square feet is available, of which 2,644 square feet are taken up by the building.
- A piece of land that would be perfect for retail, measuring.43 acres.
- A 0.86 acre piece of land, zoned as industrial space.
What these statistics consistently show is that investing in land, be that for purchase or for lease, has a big caveat attached to it, which is that of zoning. In many cases, due to zoning, it is only possible to use a piece of land for a specific purpose. While rezoning applications can be considered, these have to be paid for by you and are rarely successful.